For Language Book, The Good Word Is Success

Kingswood-Oxford School teacher Rob Kyff, known as ``The Word Guy'' for his nationally syndicated column, ``Word Watch,'' recently wrote and published his first book.

``Word Up! A Lively Look at English'' has proven so popular that it quickly sold out, and local and online merchants have waiting lists for readers who want a copy when the next batch is printed.

``I tried in the book to reflect the diversity of the column,'' said Kyff, who writes about grammar, proper word usage, origins of unusual words or phrases and so forth.

``What's been so amazing about the column is that I learn so much when I'm doing it,'' he said. ``I usually have about 30 or 40 column ideas in the works, often based on letters or questions from readers.''

Kyff was raised in Armonk, N.Y., and attended high school in nearby Pleasantville. He holds degrees from Amherst College and the University of Minnesota.

He came to Kingswood-Oxford in 1977 as an English teacher, later becoming the school's publications and public relations director. He currently teaches two courses of advanced-placement U.S. history and advises the school newspaper.

``Anything we've had that's any sort of publication, Rob has had a hand in shaping,'' said Kingswood-Oxford's headmaster, Lee Levison. ``We've been very fortunate to benefit from his wisdom and his love of the English language.''

Kyff lives in West Hartford with his wife, Janice, a part-time librarian at the Hartford Public Library; and their daughter, Allison, 4, who is described lovingly by her father as ``very verbal.''

Kyff started writing ``The Word Guy'' for The Courant in 1992, and Tribune Media Services started syndicating the column to its clients in October 1995. Columns run in The Courant on Wednesdays and Fridays, and the nationally syndicated column is distributed once a week.

Kyff admits he is not immune to grammar and word usage mistakes, but does have a pet peeve: the use of ``myself'' rather than ``I'' or ``me.''

``I think I'm more offended by dull, formulaic language than by an honest grammatical mistake,'' said Kyff, who describes grammar and usage rules as ``reasonable boundaries,'' not limits, to creativity.

``English is such an exciting and creative realm right now. New expressions are being coined all the time,'' he said.

When Kyff signed copies of his book this fall at The Bookworm on Farmington Avenue, he drew a turnout that store owner Sarah Bedell described as ``tremendous.''

``He lives and teaches locally, so a lot of people know him through that, but a lot of people are also familiar with his column,'' she said. ``It's a topic that many people have a lot of interest in.''

The store's first shipment of 150 copies sold out quickly, and more are expected to be stocked soon. When reprinted, the book can also be purchased directly from Kyff, or from online booksellers such as Amazon.com or Booksamillion.com.

It can also be ordered from iUniverse.com, the print-on-demand service that Kyff initially used to publish his book.

When Amazon.com started selling the book earlier this year, its rank was beyond 1.3 million -- in other words, 1.3 million other books were selling more quickly. The ranking quickly improved, and now it hovers in the 50,000 range.

Considering the book has not been widely publicized, Kyff is happy with that ranking.

Statewide, it has been more popular: Amazon.com ranks it the fourth highest-selling book with a Connecticut connection among those purchased by Connecticut buyers.